Talk:Thaxll'ssillyia/@comment-35434313-20200213094543
The Shadow Dragon can be easily slain by every player party. And every party should be able to kill this dragon with nobody getting injured. Even on Insane difficulty. And if it's a well played party, you may not even need pre-battle buffing before provoking the dragon to turn hostile, provided that you have got all the spells and weapons needed for the kill. The only trick is in the know-how. Generally speaking, dragons are much tougher. At the first glance, the Shadow Dragon is indeed dreadful. But do we not know that he also has a number of weaknesses, almost too many, just like all other SoA dragons. T'he Shadow Dragon can be: doomed, spooked, blinded, feebleminded, polymorphed (into a defenseless squirrel), bitten by insects (leading to 50% or 100% spellcasting failure), poisoned... He's completely vulnerable to fire, cold, acid, lightening, as well as magical damage. His physical resistance is a joke without his spell-based protections such as Stoneskin and Protection from Magical Weapons. On top of all his weaknesses, the Shadown Dragon cannot do anything with a Mustard Jelly,' which is one of the forms granted by the level 4 Polymorph Sell spell that every mage or bard may learn to cast. Also, every party member may use Cloak of the Sewers to turn into a Mustard Jelly once per day for a short time. Nalia has this spell in her spell book while joining you. For a low- to mid-level party, here is a "standard" procedure for killing SoA dragons, with details tailored for this Shadow Dragon. Following it, no party members will be injured, the dragon will drop dead in no time, and the thrill and excitement from killing a mighty dragon will vanish along with the dragon. 1) Keep this in mind: generally speaking, don't use party members to absorb the dragon's attacks, especially his initial wave of attacks. Use the weakest of your summons instead. Also, don't use physically weak summons to tank/attack the dragon. Instead, command summons (e.g., the black spider from the spider figurine) one by one to move past the dragon away from your party, luring the dragon into chasing after them (in the opposite direction of your party). If you choose to have a party member turn into a Mustard Jelly, use the invulnerable jelly to tank the dragon. 2) Start the fight: cast 3x Lower Resistance on the dragon, optionally followed up with 1x Greater Malisson and/or 1x Doom. As soon as a mage/cleric/druid/bard/whoever has cast a spell on the dragon, immediately move him/her out of the dragon's sight. Don't let them stand near the dragon waiting for casting another spell. If you have only one mage, move close to cast a spell and immediately run away. Use summons to stop the dragon from chasing after your mage. 3)' Launch a spell-based assault': Once the dragon has 0% magic resistance, almost every direct-damaging spell and disabling spell will start to work. For example, Spook is just a level 1 spell, but it works brilliantly on dragons in SoA, especially if cast by an illusionist such as Jan. Now, cast whatever offensive spells you have on him to disable or kill him. 4) ''Optionally ''launch a weapon-based assault: Cast Breach and/or Insect Plague (Summon Insect is weaker but works too) to further remove the dragon's physical protection. Breach is not affected by Magic Resistance. Insect Plague, if not resisted, can stop him from casting spells. Now start a weapon-based assault. On your way to the Shadow Dragon's lair, you will run into Mazzy, who will offer to join you. '' She is a brilliant fighter that can help you quickly take down the Shadow Dragon using weapons. '' Unfortunately, if you command her to charge at the dragon with her short sword, she will die in no time. However, at level 13+, Mazzy can shoot up to 5 arrows per round, which can be Hasted to 6 arrows per round or Improved Hasted to 10 arrows per round. She can quickly mow down the Shadow Dragon and (later) the Shade Lord, provided that you give her your best short bow with a full stack of fire (or similar) arrows. 5) Pre-battle buffing: If you use Mustard Jelly against the Shadow Dragon (either via the Polymorph Self spell or the cloak), none of your party members has to be buffed up pre-battle. Otherwise, you'll need to cast at least Resist Fear or Remove Fear on your whole party (Hexxat and undead don't need it) just in case, and use a few summons to smartly distract the dragon. There is no need to use spells higher than level 5. However, if you do have higher level spells, you may be able to overpower the Shadow Dragon while ignoring all of his attacks. For example, at Mage level 15+, Imoen could store 3x Skull Traps in a sequencer, and store Blindness and Spook in a minor sequencer. Now, have Imoen summon a spider (either via a figurine or as a memorized spell), summon a Djinni (optionally via a ring), summon a Mordenkainen's Sword, (optionally) cast Protection from Magical Energy on the sword. Now, have Imoen cast Far Sight to reveal the Shadow Dragon, command the spider to attack the dragon, and follow the spider to initiate a dialog with the dragon. Once the dialog is over, cast Lower Resistance on the dragon. Run back. The spider will try to engage the dragon, but will be dispelled. Now, command the Djinni to attack the dragon. Have Imoen follow the Djinni to get close in, and cast Lower Resistance again on the dragon. Run back. The enraged dragon will injure the Djinni by knocking him back away from him. Now, command the Sword to attack the dragon. Let Imoen follow the sword to get close, and cast Lower Resistance the 3rd time. The dragon will furiously engage the sword in melee, but can't harm it at all. Now, have Imoen cast Breach and Greater Malisson, and use disabling spells such as Blindness and Spook. Finally, have Imoen summon more creatures to help if possible, and use whatever offensive spells she still has. After the dragon is more than half wounded, let Imoen throw the sequencer for an instant kill. The instant kill step is important, as otherwise he might choose to fully heal himself. As evidenced by the above example, Imoen, Nalia, Edwin, or Neera all can easily solo-kill the Shadow Dragon after they have reached a certain level and have scribed enough important spells. If weapons must be used, then Mazzy with a shortbow (or Valygar with a longbow or both together) can most safely (no pre-battle buffing needed, as Mazzy has a spell against Dragon Fear) and quickly (they can haste themselves) kill the dragon, as long as there is something (such as a jelly) between them and the dragon. There are many ways to kill dragons. Your player character does not have to be strong to kill this dragon. Using your companions wisely is already good enough. As a last resort, you may always run downstairs for taking a break and healing your party, then come back up to deal another heavy blow, regardless how you decide to kill him. Don't rest. Repeatedly drop his HP, until he is dead. You might get injured if you get too close, but if you manage well, there is no way for any party member to die here. The Raise Dead scroll or resurrection spells should never be needed for such a straightforward fight. BTW, dragons may be feebleminded, but they can never be fooled with invisibility. So, nobody can make good use of ''Invisibility ''spells or ''backstabbing ''while fighting a single dragon. PS - Additional Note: I noticed there was a comment claiming how easy to kill the dragon with Time Stop, Greater Whirlwind, etc. '' However, I'd like to point out that this Shadow Dragon was designed for the original SoA. The XP cap for the original SoA was 2.95 million, meaning that absolutely nobody in the original release of BG2 was able to natively cast Time Stop or use any high-level abilities (HLAs, such as Whirlwind). What does that tell us? '''The Shadow Dragon was meant to be dealt with by a low- to mid-level party. ' However, with BG2:TOB lifting the XP cap to 8 million, it's possible that a player party may have reached a (very) high level before facing this dragon in the game. For a high-level party, the Shadow Dragon can be killed in as few as just 1 strike!!! You don't have to believe me. Here is an example. My first playthrough of BG2EE was done with a solo Sorcerer (Dragon Disciple). He had acquired about 5 million XP by the time he was entering this dragon's lair. He stopped leveling up at 19, and it was my big mistake to level him up past level 17 to 19 when I was so worried that I might break my no-death record while in the Underdark (over a decade after I played the game last time). The record was: he had never died throughout SoA, WK, and ToB... Anyway, I have a save right before he was facing this dragon. That save allowed me to do a test with this level 19 Sorcerer today. The test: Let the Shadow Dragon "duel" the Planetar summoned by my solo Sorcerer. Test results: 1) Planetar always wins! 2) Planetar can kill the Shadow Dragon in 1 strike! 3) If not killed right away, the dragon will be able to bring up Protection From Magical Weapons, which will last up to 4 rounds. During the 4 rounds, the dragon can seriously hurt, blind, fear the Planetar, or even knock him out totally unconscious. However, the final result remains the same: Planetar will heal himself and survive. Once the protection is over, the dragon will drop dead in no time. Here is the screenshot with the in-game feedback that shows how the Planetar instantly killed the dragon in 1 strike after the initial dialog was over.